Sandy Lee

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Standing Committee on Social Programs conducted public hearings on Bill 4, An Act to Amend the Education Act, in the communities of Fort Smith, Fort Resolution, and Hay River, during the week of June 22 to 28, 2005, and in Yellowknife on June 20, 2005, and October 11, 2005.

Bill 4 will have the effect of changing the number of hours allowed for kindergarten instruction from a maximum amount based on a half-day program, to a minimum amount, again based on a half-day program. This will have the intended effect of allowing full-day kindergarten programs to continue in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't appreciate the Minister burning up question period time without answering my questions. Mr. Speaker, my question is very specific. There are builders all over the North -- in Hay River, in Yellowknife, and other places -- and let me just talk about the one in Yellowknife who is willing to use people who are in our correctional centre. He is willing to train people. He has built houses. I want to know, very specifically, how and when is the last time he talked to the builder in Kam Lake about how he could get involved in this project. Thank...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, further to my Member's statement today, I would like to pose my questions to the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I made a statement about the fact that there are a lot of small businesses and northern businesses who go through the ups and downs of running a business in the North, where everything is high. But they stick around, they pay their taxes, they employ our people, they train our people, in the hopes of taking advantage of an economic boom. One of the things that's going to happen when the pipeline comes...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in this House, we take pride in having a consensus style of government where the Members on both sides are supposed to work together to achieve things for the benefit of all our people. When it works, Mr. Speaker, it is really the best form of government, in terms of giving the strongest voice to the smallest constituency of the Territories. But when it doesn’t work, Mr. Speaker, it functions like nothing but a majority dictatorship, where the government knows it has the numbers, and they plough through with their agenda without listening to any input...

Why is it that when we know that schools have been funding full-time kindergarten when they were not budgeted for it, and obviously taking money from somewhere else because they have decided to do so, now we are saying that we want to catch up to that, because we support full-time kindergarten? Why is it that we're not saying you could have full-time kindergarten at a maximum, or half-time kindergarten at a minimum, and then fund accordingly? Why are we just going half way?

Thank you, Madam Chair. Obviously, I support the amendment, and I do thank the Minister for making this an action item. We’re not being exactly proactive in this area; we’re sort of catching up to what school boards have been doing, because we know that there are many school boards in the North who have already been providing full-time kindergarten, and now we’re just saying that it’s okay for you to have at least minimum and maximum half-day programs. We’re not even really fully legitimizing full-day kindergarten programs.

I support this amendment, but this got me thinking about how it was...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was there in the tour with the Minister. I recall a proposal, but I may be wrong, so I'd like to ask the Minister, when is the last time, or in what form -- in a letter, e-mail, phone call -- did he communicate to that business in Kam Lake, that we have this investment opportunity in the government, and what can you do, is submit a proposal. I want to know when and how. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have to wonder why the government thinks it would be a great idea to invest $26 million in an ATCO/Novel project in Calgary, but thinks that that's an unreasonable thing to consider a $3 million investment. Mr. Speaker, I would like to know, from the Minister, in exactly what way he communicated to these companies that he's looking for a proposal. Was it a letter? In exactly what form did he invite these people to submit a proposal? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Members can see, we have a lot of people in the gallery today. We have about 60 students from William MacDonald.

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I cannot name all of them, but I know they are all very special. They are a Grade 7 social studies class, Mrs. Gale Martin’s class, and someone well known in this House, Mr. Radcliffe’s Grade 7 class. Mr. Speaker, I would also like to recognize Pat, my foster doll Pat from Tuk, who is sitting there with Cathy Olson. Also in the gallery, although I can’t see her, is Lynda Sorensen, who is well known in the Assembly, a former...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I don’t think it’s as clear as the Minister says. I agree with the purpose of this legislation in including and widening the group of people who will be subject to the protection of privacy requirements, because we know that governments gather a lot of information; and their agents, and their contractors, casual employees and students that government hires and government agents hire, if they come across personal information that’s sensitive, I think it’s only right that we require them to not reveal that. They should be advised of that. That makes sense to me.

I...